In her second sound feature Barbara Stanwyck is still struggling to find her acting chops. Showing more of her derrière than her talent in Mexicali Rose there are a few hints this woman would become one of film's all time great seductresses.
Down Mexico way old Happy Manning has carved out life for himself running a casino. Loved by the locals for his generosity he's smitten with wife Rose (Stanwyck) a full time flirt and adulterer. When he catches her fooling around with his head croupier he sends her packing and keeps the croupier. When she does return it's with his younger brother Bob as her latest victim.
Mexicali Rose demands a lot of amnesia on the part of its characters as Rose roars back into town expecting everybody to play dumb around her character transformation or getting Bob up to speed. Yet the man-eater turned wide eyed innocent is soon duping Bob and back at the casino playing the seduction game.
This would be Stanwyck's last defenseless little girl role before embarking on a half century of strong women roles that would arguably make her the finest film actress of the 20th Century. What is missing is the maturity and professional seasoning that would begin in her next film Ladies of Leisure and be fully evident by Baby Face (33). In Mexicali Rose she's no Phyllis Dietrich but there are clear signs she was the girl capable of filling that fatales shoes.
Down Mexico way old Happy Manning has carved out life for himself running a casino. Loved by the locals for his generosity he's smitten with wife Rose (Stanwyck) a full time flirt and adulterer. When he catches her fooling around with his head croupier he sends her packing and keeps the croupier. When she does return it's with his younger brother Bob as her latest victim.
Mexicali Rose demands a lot of amnesia on the part of its characters as Rose roars back into town expecting everybody to play dumb around her character transformation or getting Bob up to speed. Yet the man-eater turned wide eyed innocent is soon duping Bob and back at the casino playing the seduction game.
This would be Stanwyck's last defenseless little girl role before embarking on a half century of strong women roles that would arguably make her the finest film actress of the 20th Century. What is missing is the maturity and professional seasoning that would begin in her next film Ladies of Leisure and be fully evident by Baby Face (33). In Mexicali Rose she's no Phyllis Dietrich but there are clear signs she was the girl capable of filling that fatales shoes.